Disillusionment Charms
by Deluxe Sugar Quills
Summary: Neville and the DA are on a mission to get the Sword of Gryffindor... but not without a few good natured flirtatious looks. Written for WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot as part of the Reviews Lounge Birthday Ficathon.


_This has already been posted as part of the Reviews Lounge Birthday Ficathon, where authors wrote anonymous stories as a gift for another author taking part. This story was written for WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot. :)_

Disillusionment Charms

He stood before the assembled group of students. He knew he should look brave and determined, but he was sure that the look on his face matched the one of those around him – nervous and unsure. He cleared his throat and wasn't surprised at how quickly they all quieted down. The group wasn't as large as the last time it had assembled, but that was no surprise with all of the new bans that were in place. In fact, he saw new faces out there, ones that he had not seen previously.

"Er—" he began, "hello. Welcome to the first meeting this year of Dumbledore's Army." As he paused, someone in back started to applaud, and the rest of the students joined in. "Thank you. Now, I can see that some of you have never to a meeting before—"

"And some can't come to this one against their own will!" a voice shouted out. He sent a glare at the speaker, but she ignored him. "You may have heard that my brother's sick with spattergroit and that's the reason he's not here. But if you have any common sense you know that that's baloney and he is where Harry and Hermione are – fighting!" Ginny's voice rang throughout the Room of Requirement, her red hair framing her angry expression. Everyone muttered among themselves after her outburst, no doubt discussing what she had said. She turned back to Neville after a moment with a nod, getting herself in check.

"Right, well, they're not going to be the only ones fighting. I know you all have your Galleons, and if you're new then go and talk to Michael Corner or someone to get your own. Dumbledore's Army has come back and we will take down Snape and the Carrows," Neville proclaimed. "And we will fight for the muggleborns, who aren't here because of the Ministry's stupid delusions!" He felt his strength grow as he talked for the rest of the meeting, and nearly collapsed with exhaustion when they finally decided that they all had to leave for dinner.

Ginny, Luna and Seamus walked up to him when the meeting was over.

"I thought that was very good," Luna said.

"Right, thanks," Neville replied. He watched the rest of the crowd exit the Room of Requirement in twos and threes, and he noticed Hannah Abbott's gaze lingering on him from across the room. She turned away when she noticed him noticing her, and Neville felt his face flush.

"What are we going to do for the next meeting?" Seamus said, slowly.

"No idea," Neville said, looking at him. "It was enough trouble getting this one done."

"I may have an idea," Ginny said slowly.

"Great, what is it?" Neville asked.

"I'm still thinking about it… ask me next meeting," she replied.

--

The next meeting Neville was joined in the front of the Room of Requirement by Ginny. No one was completely sure as to how they took over Dumbledore's Army, but no one questioned them once they started to talk. They seemed the perfect leaders after Harry had left, and they took to the roles fittingly.

"We need to have a mission," Neville said. "We can just sit here and talk about what we want to do, or we can actually _do_ something and help get You-Know-Who off of our backs for good."

"I had an idea," Ginny continued. "As you all know, Albus Dumbledore died last summer at the hands of Severus Snape." There was a pause to acknowledge the former Headmaster. "I know that in his will he left Harry Potter the sword of Gryffindor, which you may have seen if you've ever visited the Headmasters office. Harry himself pulled it from the Sorting Hat when he faced You-Know-Who and had to save me from the Chamber of Secrets. But the Ministry denied Harry the sword. If Dumbledore left it to him, it must be important! So I think we should get it back, and get it to Harry somehow!"

A hand in the crowd shot up, and Ginny called on the fifth year.

"But how?" he asked. Ginny grinned.

"Well, we'll have to figure out a plan. And how we'll get to Harry, I have no idea, but it's better than letting Severus Snape have it for himself," she replied. "And, after all, it's a hell of a lot better than just sitting on our bums all day."

"Now, people, any ideas?" Neville asked. A few hands went up, some slower than others. Neville felt somewhat like a teacher as he called on a random hand.

"Disillusionment Charms," Hannah said. Something in his brain told him it wasn't a coincidence that he chose her, but Neville ignored that fact.

"What?" he said.

"We could disillusion ourselves, and I think it might work on objects too," she replied.

"That seems like it might work," Ginny said. "Well, we'll need a group of people to get it first. I think Neville and I should do it, and Luna. After all, we fought with Harry last year when Dumbledore was killed and with Harry at the Ministry two years ago."

"But we'll need people to do backup and stuff as well," Neville said quickly, not wanting to bring up the old fights. "I think people from the old DA would be best, just because we've already had some training. Meanwhile, we'll also start doing training again, because I doubt that the Carrows will bother teaching us anything and we need to be prepared for any upcoming battles. With the way things are going, there's going to be a battle, and it's better to be prepared." He surveyed the people in front of him, getting a nod from the people that he gained eye contact with.

"Okay, Seamus, Parvati, Hannah, you'll be part of the retrieval team. Michael, Anthony, Colin, anyone else from the old DA, start rounding up people and form groups. We'll start training as soon as we can," Neville said. People immediately began moving around, and the Room of Requirement effortlessly expanded as groups began to forms. Neville himself was met by the familiar faces, and they all stood in front of him, awaiting further instructions.

_From me…_ Neville thought, giving himself a moment to let his power sink in. He wasn't quite used to this, but with new situations he just had to learn to go with the flow of things.

"Okay, Hannah, you said Disillusionment Charms. We'll have to have everyone practicing them, and we can't have any slipups. Does everyone know the charm?" he asked. The group before him nodded once.

"Just like this," Luna said, tapping her wand on Neville's head. He felt as if an egg had been cracked on his skull as he disappeared before his very eyes.

"Right," he said, before performing the countercharm. "Now, does it work on objects?" He looked at Hannah and she blushed slightly as she did so.

"I don't actually know, but in theory it seems that they should," she replied softly.

"Luna?" Neville said. Luna turned to a block of wood that had appeared out of nowhere and tapped it. It began to fade out of sight, and when she tapped it again it reappeared.

"Great," Neville said, smiling. "We'll have to practice, and we have to make sure that it'll work on every kind of object. We don't want any mess-ups."

--

They practiced whenever they had a free moment, whether it was Neville and Seamus all alone up in the boy's dormitory, or between classes on whatever unsuspecting suit of armor stood in their path. Further plans were made, and within a week they thought they had everything planned out. They practiced the Disillusionment Charms one last time as Neville, Ginny, Seamus and Parvati left the Gryffindor Common Room and met up with the other two after curfew.

"You have the password, right?" Neville whispered. He could see someone nod their head, with just a slight ruffle between their head and the wall behind them.

"Just don't ask how," Parvati whispered back. "It's _Silver Doe_."

"Okay," he whispered. "Let's go."

It wasn't a far trip to the Headmaster's office, but it felt like miles to Neville. He knew that Snape would be in his chamber at this time, and they had the fortune not to come across any patrolling teacher. As he went on, he thought about the plan. It all seemed too hasty, too wrong. But there was no going back now – either they gave up on it before anyone had caught them or they went through with it. And they were Dumbledore's Army. They didn't give up. They couldn't give up.

As they approached the Headmaster's office, they slowed down. They came to a complete stop not far from the gargoyle that guarded it.

"Okay, let's go," Neville repeated.

"Good luck," he heard Hannah whisper, and he knew it was directed at him. He was suddenly glad that he was Disillusioned as he felt his face grow hot. The last week he had been seeing a lot of Hannah, which he hadn't since they had been Herbology partners back in their second year. They were sort-of friends, but they had grown apart. _Hopefully not for too long_, Neville thought before banishing the thought from his mind.

They sidled up to the gargoyle, casting silencing charm after silencing charm. The last thing they needed was someone finding them only because of a noisy gargoyle. Neville barely heard Parvati whisper, "_Silver Doe_," over the sound of his heart beating, but suddenly the gargoyle was turning and he and Ginny and Luna were flying up the stairs and into the Headmaster's office. Hannah and Seamus and Parvati waited at the bottom, bracing themselves for any unwanted visitors and getting ready to run at the first sign of the others returning.

The three snuck into the office, finding the sword in the glass case almost instantly. They had no problem getting the case open, but when they had the Sword of Gryffindor in front of them they couldn't seem get the Disillusionment Charm to work. As they tried again and again, they didn't realize how noisy they were becoming.

"Well, well, well," a voice said from behind them, making them all jump. "What do we have here?" Neville turned around slowly and flinched when he saw Snape standing behind them. "Looking for something, are we?" Neville hoped that Parvati, Seamus, and Hannah were running back to their dormitories, and not running up here to fight Snape. _Please let them get away safely_, he thought, his minds resting on Hannah. And with that, he gave himself up to Snape. He knew there was no point in arguing.

Through everything that happened next – the lecturing, the beating himself up for not thinking of the possibility of an anti-Disillusionment Charm, the Crucio Curse delivered swiftly and multiple times throughout the night by the Carrows, and the punishment later in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid, Neville kept his mind focused on Hannah's face, and her voice when she whispered, "Good luck." If he concentrated on that all year, it just might not be as long of a year as it was promising to be.


End file.
